The Libre Initiative

The Libre Initiative is a conservative non-profit 501(c)(4) organization targeting Latino voters. According to the group's website, "LIBRE's mission is to increase economic freedom and prosperity by promoting free enterprise, responsibility and a more constitutionally limited government." The group has received several million dollars in funding from organizations linked to the Koch brothers. The Libre Initiative was launched by the group's current executive director Daniel Garza, a former White House staffer under George W. Bush.[1]

The Libre Initiative has an affiliated 501(c)(3) group, the Libre Initiative Institute, also headed by Garza.[2]

2016 Election Campaign and Expansion

The Associated Press reported on January 26, 2015 that "the political machine backed by billionaires Charles and David Koch on Monday told its allies that spending across its conservative network would approach $1 billion ahead of 2016's elections." It explained that this funding is planned to come through Freedom Partners, "the central hub for the Koch-backed network that includes groups like the activist-recruiting Americans for Prosperity, the millennial-targeting Generation Opportunity and the Hispanic-wooing Libre Initiative."[3]

The Libre Initiative plans to expand to Wisconsin and North Carolina in 2015 and increase its staff by about 30 percent ahead of 2016, Daniel Garza told Politico after the 2015 Koch summit.[4]

2014 Election Campaign

Ramping Up Outreach to Latino Voters

Libre Initiative Executive Director Daniel Garza told the media that he expected the Republican Party to increase outreach to Latinos during the 2014 election cycle.[5] According to Politico, the "Koch-backed" LIBRE Initiative planned to hire field directors in Colorado and Texas for the 2014 midterm elections, as well as a coalitions coordinator and a "West Coast youth projects manager."[6]

Garza has reportedly been called on to advise Republicans on outreach to Latino communities as a result of his work leading the Libre Initiative.[5]

Along with advertising and policy campaigning, the Libre Initiative has pledged to engage in social service outreach to its target audience of Latino communities. For example, Executive Director Daniel Garza stated that the Libre Initiative would offer a free GED course in 2014.[7]

Daniel Garza and other Libre staff regularly publish op-ed pieces in outlets across the country, including Fox News Latino,[8] NBC Latino,[9] the Press of Atlantic City,[10] the San Antonio Express,[11] the Las Vegas Journal Review,[12] and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.[13]

Ads Attack Supporters of Health Care Reform

The Libre Initiative spent $1.4 million in early 2014 on Spanish- and English-language ads attacking four House Democrats in Arizona, Florida, and Texas for their support of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).[14] Starting January 16, 2014, the group spent half a million dollars for two weeks of television ads attacking Texas Democrat Rep. Pete Gallego for supporting the ACA.[7] Libre spent another $700,000 on ads against Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ) and Rep. Ron Barber (D-AZ) in April 2014.[15] Along with Rep. Joe Garcia (D-FL), also the target of Libre's attack ads,[16] Gallego, Kirkpatrick, and Barber all represent districts with large Latino populations.

As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, the Libre Initiative is not required to disclose its funding sources or complete detailed reports of its campaign spending. Full reports of 2014 election year spending may not be available until 2015.[14]

Ties to the Koch Brothers

The Koch network was one of the biggest political operations in 2012 and worked largely outside the campaign finance system, raising at least $407 million. Source: Robert Maguire with the Center for Responsive Politics.

The Libre Initiative reported $2.15 million in revenue for 2011[17] and $4.97 million in revenue for 2012.[18] The forms available to the public do not list the source(s) of that income.

According to IRS documents filed by Freedom Partners and the TC4 Trust, the Libre Initiative appears to have received at least $3.8 million in grant funding from those two organizations between July 2011 and October 2012, including $693,000 from the TC4 Trust[19] and $3,112,000 from Freedom Partners.[20] These donations were received by TDNA, LLC, which according to the Libre Initiative's IRS filing is controlled by the Libre Initiative Trust.[18]

When fundraising for The Libre Initiative in 2011, the group's CEO Daniel Garza told iWatch News that he had approached "representatives of the Koch family."[21] Garza did not confirm that the organization received funds from the Koch brothers' network, but "[t]wo GOP operatives familiar with the initiative say Garza told them he has already secured commitments for about $1 million -- including funds from Koch family interests," as reported by the Center for Public Integrity.[21] The New York Times reported that in 2013, the Koch network was expected to expand financing for the Libre Initiative.[22]

Positions

Despite being officially non-partisan, the Libre Initiative holds conservative positions that are largely in line with the Republican Party, including support for tax cuts, ending the Affordable Care Act, and expanding charter schools.

"Pro-Market" Immigration Reform

The Libre Initiative "Estamos Contigo" ("We are with you") campaign calls for free market reforms to US immigration law. Garza has stated that Libre spent almost $1 million in 2012 advocating for its vision of immigration reform.[7] According to its website, the Libre Initiative supports immigration reform with "a streamlined, market-based and employment-driven policy."[23] Its "Statement of Principles" calls for unlimited worker visas, including for foreign-born STEM workers, as well as for children of undocumented immigrants to have access to college educations.

At a 2013 CPAC panel on immigration, Garza stated that he did not think an immigration reform bill should include a path to citizenship, as it would not be "politically viable."[24] The Washington Post reported Garza as saying that "[w]hat illegal immigrants really want above all is 'permanencia — the certainty that you won't be deported tomorrow,' said Garza. 'At least let's get legality, get the authority to work and to provide for our children. I think that's where the compromise is going to be.'"[24]

Opposition to the Affordable Care Act

The Libre Initiative claims that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has increased the cost of healthcare. Its website specifically highlights Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, and Texas as states where "the painful impact of Obamacare," the ACA, is being felt.[25] All five states happen to be states with sizable Latino populations that are likely battlegrounds for key 2014 elections.

Libre Initiative staff, including Daniel Garza, have published op-ed pieces in newspapers across the country claiming that the ACA is particularly bad for Latinos. In the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on February 6, 2014, for example, Garza wrote that "Obamacare will simply be too expensive for many Hispanics" and suggested that its "expensive mandates and regulations" would reduce access to Hispanic doctors. He further claimed that the law will be disproportionately costly to Latino communities due to its "over-reliance on the young."[26] Garza published a "nearly identical" column in the San Antonio Express News.[27]

"Share the Dream" Campaign

The Libre Initiative released a series of videos as part of the "Share the Dream" campaign in January 2014, around the same time as Libre's anti-Obamacare attack ads. The videos show "personal stories of Hispanic success in the United States."[7] The campaign included digital and social media as well as broadcast ads, which were to be shown in television markets in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Miami, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; Las Vegas, Nevada; and San Antonio, Texas.[28]

Criticism

Latinos Support the Affordable Care Act

The Libre Initiative's position on the ACA contradicts majority opinion among Latinos, who largely support the law. The El Paso Times reported:

"Garza claims to be speaking in the interest of Hispanics, but in opposing Obamacare, he's flying in the face of Hispanic opinion, said Matt A. Barreto[,] a political scientist at the University of Washington. Barreto directs the Washington Poll and studies political participation by minorities. 'There's overwhelming support for a government role in health care among Hispanics -- it's probably the highest of any group,' Barreto said Friday. 'It's also the group with the greatest percentage of uninsured. They have the most to benefit from health care reform.'"[27]

Libre Represents the Interests of the Rich

As reported by Reuters, "[t]he Arizona Democratic Party has blasted Libre as a "fake Latino advocacy organization," and other party officials say the group is doing the bidding of its wealthy donors, who are paying for a blitz of ads against Democrats in the midterm elections."[14] The El Paso Times reported that Texas Democrats were similarly skeptical about whether Libre represented the interests of the Latino community:

"The Democratic official who heads up Texas' Mexican American Legislative Caucus said that he applauds any group that wants to serve the Hispanic community, but Libre's Koch ties raise questions. 'It certainly is suspicious,' said state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio. 'The Koch brothers are certainly no fans of the Affordable Care Act. Quite frankly, that's unfortunate for Texas Latinos that the Koch-funded group holds itself out as wanting to work on behalf of Hispanics, but yet it opposes an issue where half of the uninsured are Hispanics. That doesn't serve the issue of wanting to help the Hispanic community.'"[27]

The El Paso Times also asked political scientist Matt Barreto "if the Libre Initiative is a Hispanic twist on the tea party groups. 'I would say that it's definitely something to get people to vote against their own interests,' he said. 'I don't know if it's the same sort of rhetoric as the tea party -- the name calling and the divisiveness -- but they're definitely trying to get people to vote against their self-interests.'"[27]

Personnel

According to a January 2014 report by Yahoo News, "LIBRE's staff is comprised of veteran conservative Hispanic operatives, including National Strategic Director Jose Mallea, formerly the campaign manager for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio; Policy Director Jorge Lima, once an adviser to former Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuno; and Chief of Staff Andeliz Castillo, who led outreach to Hispanic media for the Republican National Committee during the 2008 presidential election. The 35-member staff is spread out among eight states, with plans to expand to a dozen by year’s end. LIBRE has brought on Rachel Campos-Duffy, a writer and wife of Wisconsin Republican Rep. Sean Duffy, who both made their public debut in the 1990s as characters on MTV's 'The Real World.'"[7]